FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN … THE INDEPENDENT’S AMERICAN DREAM: Can The Independent establish a big American audience and a sustainable business now that the 30-year-old U.K. news brand has ditched its print edition? That’s the question Alex Spence and I explore in our feature today for POLITICO Europe, with the requisite cameos from British New York media scenesters like Nick Denton, Tina Brown and Martin Dunn.

“For three decades, the Independent was a plucky underdog battling Fleet Street’s powerful press barons. Now it’s trying to carve out a space in an even more competitive market: New York …. The Independent is planning significant investments in its U.S. operation to build on [its] American audience … and to grab a slice of the growing amount American companies spend on digital advertising. ... In the coming months, the Independent’s newsroom of 8 journalists near Manhattan’s Union Square will be boosted by the arrival of a news editor and several new specialist reporters in areas such as finance, technology, culture and science. The Independent’s head of audience development has been sent over from London to help kickstart the expansion.”

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Traffic’s on the rise and The Independent says it’s bullish about getting a piece of major American stories like the 2016 election, but some wonder whether it’s starting to look more like a cheap Daily Mail-style click factory. “I don’t envy the publisher who’s trying to break into the digital media space [here],” said Ben Winkler of the Manhattan-based media agency OMD. You can read the full piece here: http://politi.co/1Zth3I2

Good morning and welcome back! As always, tips, comments, etc. to jpompeo@politico.com. Twitter = @joepompeo. You can read Morning Media on your web browser here: http://politi.co/1PdFrwQ. If you’re already reading this on your browser, you can sign up for the email version by clicking on the blue “subscribe” button here or by visiting POLITICO Media’s homepage, politico.com/media. Hadas Gold and Alex Weprin contributed items to today’s column.

PRESUMPTIVE OR PREMATURE?: “News outlets, led by the Associated Press, are beginning to call Hillary Clinton the Democratic party's presumptive nominee’ for president,” writes CNN’s Brian Stelter. “Some Bernie Sanders supporters say the shift in language is premature and even downright undemocratic. But major news organizations are confident that it's accurate and appropriate. The objections from Sanders supporters are shining a spotlight on the news media's role in tallying up and announcing primary results.” http://cnnmon.ie/25JmKoJ

TRUMP HATES THE PRESS, BUT HE ACTUALLY LOVES US: “Far from seeking war with reporters, Trump has generally been very cozy with them,” Jack Shafer writes in his latest for POLITICO. “In a recent conversation with Hollywood Reporter’s Michael Wolff, Trump professed his respect for media titans like Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes of Fox, Leslie Moonves of CBS, Andy Lack of NBC News, and Jeff Zucker of CNN. In the decades before he was a candidate, he famously fed New York’s tabloid reporters a steady diet of gossip and self-promotion. … [N]o candidate exceeds Trump for pure media friendliness. Trump has appeared on almost every TV show that has invited him. He makes his numerous rallies and speeches open to the network cameras. He and his campaign are quick to return phone calls—even if they don’t always give the straightest answer to questions.” http://politi.co/1ZsYDXS

A TRUMP-SIZED BILL FOR TRAVELING PRESS, by Hadas Gold: News organizations who opted to join the Donald Trump press charter over a four day stint in California last week were hit with a hefty bill: around $21,000 per passenger, according to several reporter sources. That's far more expensive than most press charters, though it included two coast-to-coast round trips and travel within California. (A Rubio charter during the primaries clocked in at $2,000 a day, which took some by surprise). But a source with knowledge of the Trump charter and how it operates told POLITICO that the the campaign did not determine the costs; rather, the high bill was a result of some outlets reserving spaces and then backing out. Such high costs will be avoided in the future, the source said, as the team irons out logistics with a traveling press.

ENDLESS SUMNER, by Alex Weprin: National Amusements, the parent company of Sumner Redstone’s Viacom, amended Viacom’s bylaws late on Monday. The change? A clause adding that any sale of Paramount Pictures by Viacom would need 100 percent approval by Viacom's board of directors. It effectively kills the deal being pursued by Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, with Redstone’s daughter Shari -- seen by many as pulling the strings that will determine the future of her ailing 93-year-old father’s media empire -- still serving on the board and able to kill any effort to sell all or part of the film studio. The Los Angeles Times has more: http://lat.ms/1UD4NTL

Dauman, meanwhile, called for an "immediate medical examination" of Redstone, arguing that if it is not done soon Redstone will be unable to provide any evidence in the case Dauman has opened against the trust that controls Viacom and CBS. "He is a 93-year-old man suffering from overwhelming physical ailments, including an inability to speak, stand, walk, eat, write or read." CNN’s story: http://cnnmon.ie/1UD4ath

“Mr. Redstone’s wishes, currently at the center of a bitter legal dispute,” Emily Steel writes in The New York Times, “are being conveyed to his corporate executives, and to the public, through a new team of representatives acting on his behalf as he reorganizes his $40 billion media empire.These new lieutenants are unknown to many of Mr. Redstone’s longtime confidants at Viacom, the big entertainment company he controls. Their sudden appearance has become an issue in the challenge Viacom directors have mounted because of the recent changes at the top of his companies.” http://nyti.ms/25JEyUq

REVOLVING DOOR: Sloane Crosley, the New York book-publishing publicist turned New York literary sensation, has been given a contributing editor title at Vanity Fair, where she will take-over the monthly books column, “Hot Type,” from Elissa Schappell. “Her years in the literary world and her experience as an essayist and a novelist have given her a bird’s eye view of the industry that will no doubt prove invaluable in corralling the best books out there for our readers,” Vanity Fair editor in chief Graydon Carter said yesterday in an announcement about the change. Schappell, who’s been on VF’s books beat for more than 20 years, is leaving to pursue a book project of her own.

Elsewhere:

--VICELAND announced that Nomi Ernst Leidner has been promoted to senior vice president for development.

AD BLOCKING BATTLE HEATS UP: The war between publishers and ad-blocking technology appears to be escalating. In one of the latest developments, The New York Times is “exploring the possibility” of offering an ad-free digital subscription, CEO Mark Thompson said at an industry conference yesterday in prepared remarks first reported by AdAge (http://bit.ly/22KvklA). More and more people are reading websites on their smartphones, and ad blockers make the experience more enjoyable by removing all the commercials -- some of which are high quality, but many others that are total crap (hence the conundrum). Media outlets say ad blockers are costing them valuable revenues that they need in order to survive in the cutthroat digital publishing economy.

In addition to the Times, a growing number of news organizations have joined the fight, from Slate to Bloomberg to The Huffington Post. The Newspaper Association of America filed a complaint about ad-blocking with the FTC on May 26 (http://politi.co/1sSAVdA). Last month, The Wall Street Journal began asking users of ad-blockers to turn them off and subscribe instead. Morning Media asked two other major newspapers, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, what they were working on to combat ad-blocking, but neither had anything to share at the moment.

During Thompson’s address (the text of which was shared with Morning Media) atIAB’s Ad Blocking & User Experience Summit yesterday, the Times CEO called for “industry-wide action on ad-blocking,” and he singled out “technologies and practices associated with adblocking which are unfair and deceptive. … We want to encourage other publishers and counterparts throughout the industry, and the organizations which represent us, to be trenchant in publicly confronting adblockers who engage in these coercive and misleading business practices. … It is not just publishers who are vulnerable to these trade practices, and we encourage our partners across the industry to seek out opportunities to oppose them.”

SOUNDBITES:

--“If you wanted to explain to someone how being a foreign correspondent works (and get them into the idea) what *novel* would you suggest?” http://bit.ly/24uPvmD [Ben Smith]

UPDATE: Gannett issued the following statement this morning regarding its offer to buy Tribune Publishing at $15 per share: "Gannett values the 11 iconic newspapers of Tribune and has determined to keep its offer in place as it evaluates various near-term developments, including the Tribune second quarter 2016 financial results, which are expected in August." Earlier... GANNETT'S 'NOT QUITE READY TO HANG IT UP': That's what sources told CNBC's David Faber of the company's attempts to buy rival newspaper chain Tribune Publishing. On yesterday's episode of "Squawk Box," Faber said that "people close to the situation tell me the company's not ready to drop its bid yet at $15 a share," according to a transcript. Meanwhile, in an apparent signal of support for Gannett's hostile takeover attempts, more than 40 percent of Tribune Publishing shareholders withheld their votes for each of the eight board nominees who were up for reelection last week. The full results are available on the SEC's website: http://1.usa.gov/1U598iF

BREXIT MEDIA BRIEF: Former London mayor “Boris Johnson will headline an online debate on the European Referendum hosted by the Daily Telegraph next week, the newspaper said on Monday,” Alex Spence reports on POLITICO Europe. “The Telegraph has teamed up with the Huffington Post after its initial digital partner, BuzzFeed, arranged a separate event with Facebook. ... The Telegraph-Huffington Post debate is one of a succession of live events planned by broadcasters and publishers in the run-up to the June 23 vote” deciding whether Britain should exit the European Union. http://politi.co/1PCgL13

IF ONLY DAVID CARR WERE ALIVE TO SEE THIS: The late New York Times media columnist’s 2008 memoir about drug addiction is being turned into an AMC mini-series. Carr will be played by “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk, who said in a statement quoted in the Times’ report on the show: “I hope to do justice to David’s intellect and his scrappy nature. It’s going to be crazy … if we do it right.” http://nyti.ms/1td9zio